Tuesday, February 20, 2007

more Reggie Walton

"The judge who is presiding over the trial of Lewis Libby, Reggie B. Walton, has had a distinguished career, marked in recent years by controversy over his alleged sympathies toward the Bush administation and his failure to fully disclose his financial dealings as required by law.

In March 2006, FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds petitioned unsuccessfully to have Judge Walton removed from presiding over her lawsuit against the federal government for invasion of privacy and violation of her First Amendment rights. Edmonds charged that Walton's actions in a previous suit she filed against the federal government suggested bias. She also said Walton's 2003 financial disclosure form, which has every bit of substantive information blacked out, appears to violate federal ethics laws.[]The Libby and (Sibel) Edmonds cases are not the only high-profile trials on Walton's docket. Last week, he set aside 16 lawsuits by Guantanamo Bay detainees, saying that under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a civilian judge may be unable to hear such cases. "

"Armitage's leak was at best mindless, at worst the trading of national security secrets to ingratiate himself with a star reporter. On the tape, Armitage's tough-guy, obscenity-spewing persona is coached along by an eager, laughing Woodward. The more Woodward laps it up, the more Armitage spills the beans. Woodward: "But why would they send him?" Armitage: "Because his wife's a fucking analyst at the agency." Woodward: "It's still weird." Armitage: It, it's perfect. This is what she does, she is a WMD analyst out there." Woodward: "Oh she is." Armitage: "Yeah." Woodward: "Oh, I see."

Armitage had learned of Plame from reading a State Department memo that conspicuously marked an "S" next to her name, indicating that her identity was top secret. Armitage, who had years of experience at high levels of government, was more intent on impressing Woodward than on keeping the secret. The tape ends with Armitage repeating with emphasis: "But his wife is in the agency and is a WMD analyst. How about that shit?" Armitage's buffoonery about "that shit" had no bearing on the charges against Libby, but Libby's lawyers hoped it would provide a tawdry distraction, as it has for numerous Washington columnists and pundits."

""American military operations for a major conventional war with Iran could be implemented any day. They extend far beyond targeting suspect WMD facilities and will enable President Bush to destroy Iran's military, political and economic infrastructure overnight using conventional weapons.

British military sources told the New Statesman, on condition of anonymity, that "the US military switched its whole focus to Iran" as soon as Saddam Hussein was kicked out of Baghdad. It continued this strategy, even though it had American infantry bogged down in fighting the insurgency in Iraq.""